had fattened had sunned
had fevered as was
instructed by those

before me.        tilted
the vial of what water
could be gathered

to my lip. reached
full youth and sauntered
to the twilight

field of husks. followed
suit and peeled my own.
unspooled and miraculous,

it stretched into shapes
to allow me to build
a husk mother.                  gave her

palms    and irises of
beaming chestnut
hull.                       allowed me

to build a husk
father.                gave him
a wool neck.     dug between

them ’til the earth
was wet and had about it
a drumbeat. it did not

resist. between the two,
a something. it gave its
title to my cause. immediately

I fattened it. I sunned it.
I brought it to the pillowy
               ditch bottom, devoid

of water and of perfect
size for us. I dared not
wake it from the bed

I’d gathered of crocus
petal and jasmine’s hypnotic
lull.                  Once tempered

the heart now knew
to whinny up against
its bounds.

I composed for us
a breath that entered
                   that entered